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Graham rules out Wanni visit

by Ranga Jayasuriya

The LTTE's campaign for international recognition met with another setback with visiting Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham having declined to meet Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in Kilinochchi.

Graham was due in Colombo last evening. "He (Graham) is not visiting the Wanni. He is not meeting Prabhakaran," a Canadian High Commission spokeswoman told the Daily News.

"He is only meeting Government leaders and civil society representatives."

Canadian Tamil lobbies had been campaigning for a meeting between Graham and Prabhakaran. Requests had also been made for him to visit the Wanni.

However the spokeswoman said: "This is not the right time to meet them (the LTTE hierarchy)".

During his visit, Graham will travel to the Jaffna peninsula. Graham who maintains a close relationship with Canada's Tamil diaspora representing 200,000 immigrant Tamils was in the centre of a controversy when he visited a fund raising dinner organised by a rebel front organisation in Canada.

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